Many types of surgery require a multiplicity of tubes and/or electric wires and cords to be inserted into the patient, or attached to electrodes on the patient. Problems have arisen in the past in providing adequate means for securing such tubes and cords so that they may be firmly held during the operation in positions in which they will not interfere with the surgeon, anesthetist or attendant nurses.
The improved disposable device of the present invention, as will become more evident as the present description proceeds, finds particular utility for anchoring such tubes and cords during surgical operations, and the like, to appropriate support surfaces, such as described above.
A special feature of the device is that the tube or cord may be adjusted, removed or replaced, without removing the device from the supporting surface, thereby avoiding any discomfort to the patient should the device, for example, be attached directly to his body. As will also become evident, as the description proceeds, the clamping device of the invention also finds utility in securing tubes, for example, to the rail of the bed during intravenous injections. In fact, the clamping device of the invention has wide utility in medical and non-medical fields wherever it is desired to secure wires, tubes, cords, and the like, temporarily to an appropriate support surface.
As described briefly above, the device of the invention, comprises a thin flexible pad having a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side, so that the pad may be adhesively secured to a supporting surface. An elongated flexible strip is attached to the pad, or formed integral therewith, as will be described, and a VELCRO tab is affixed to the end of the strip. In operation, the strip is wrapped around the tube or cord to be supported by the device, and the Velcro tab at its distal end is pressed into the pad, or into an appropriate fabric member on the pad, so that the VELCRO tab may be engaged in a fastening relationship.
VELCRO fasteners per se, are known to the art. These fasteners comprise two strips of material, one being a Velcro tab provided with a multiplicity of small plastic hooks, and the other being a thread-like fabric such as a loop spun nylon. The hooks of the Velcro pad engage or seize the loops of the fabric strip when the two strips are brought together, so as to form a firm bond. The fastener can be opened by manually peeling one strip away from the other.
The VELCRO fastener described above is used in the clamping device of the present invention, in combination with the other elements described above, so as to provide an improved securing device which has wide utility, which can be produced inexpensively, and sold at a low cost, and which is readily disposable.